Lament of the Lambs
by Lady Moon-Chan
Summary: An insane witch girl is taken in by the AX, and she insists her brother is out for blood. But the only one she shows any lucidity around is Abel, and even he can't be sure it's no hoax...and Francesco wants her in the custody of the Inquisitors, NOW...
1. The Witch Girl and Shell Man

Lament of the Lamb

Lady Moon-Chan

**Another witch girl is found by the AX, thirteen year old Nora Lector. Her powers are much the same as those of the late Sister Noelle, but on such a strong scale that they have driven her insane. Cardinal Francesco insists that the girl be given to the Inquisitorial Department, but Caterina resists, saying that according to the girl, her brother, also a witch, is the main threat, and only Nora can track him down. The problem is, Nora only speaks normally around Abel, who can't always be around. But if Nora's only lucid messages come through Abel, how can the AX hope to find her brother, who has the power to potentially destroy them all?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Trinity Blood. Nor do I fully own Nora. She was inspired by Chizuna from Lament of the Lamb. **

**Chapter 1: The Witch and Shell Man**

"I'll ask again. Who are you and where do you come from?" Father William Walter Wordsworth, also known as the Professor, was nearing his wits' end. A young witch had been found wandering near the grounds of the Vatican, and had been taken in for questioning, with him as the interrogater. But the girl hadn't responded at all to any questions, and Cardinal de Medici's demands that the girl be given over to the Department of Inquisition were only growing fiercer as the hours ticked by.

The girl looked up, her deep brown, nearly black, eyes vacant and dull. "I used to be able to protect him from the world, after Mama died. But not anymore." she stated sadly.

Wordsworth gave a jolt. That was the first the girl had spoken since she was brought in five hours ago! "Who did you used to be Abel to protect?" he asked.

The girl sighed, turning away from him. "Go away, please. I don't want to talk anymore."

He was now staring face to face with a sheet of long auburn hair. "You don't understand. You'll have to do more than just talk if the Inquisition get their hands on you, and we can't hold them off for much longer." he stated calmly, resisting the urge to rub at his temples.

"You're sad now." she said softly. I don't even need to look. The blackness of despair is rolling off you in waves. That happens to lots of people around me. Papa, Mama, my sisters...until only Brother didn't get sad around me. We protected each other, he and I."

"Is that what you were doing when we found you? Looking for your brother?" asked Wordsworth.

The girl began to sing in response. "_Mary she rocked him, her baby to sleep, then they left him to die, like a tramp in the street._" She made a rocking motion with her arms. "Baby is crying againMama." she murmured. "You'll have to sing to him. I can't do it right."

Wordsworth puffed at his pipe, trying to think of something he could ask that she would respond to.

"Professor." he turned to see Sister Kate behind him. "Father Nightroad will be coming soon to take up the interrogation in your place."

"Will that even work? She hasn't responded to anything I've asked..." Wordsworth trailed off.

Kate smiled slightly. "Abel is the one who got through Elise's barriers."

Wordsworth nodded. "That's true."

The girl had turned when she heard a new voice. Her eyes widened slightly. "You are so very blue and full of hope. I wish I could be like that." she raised her own hand before her eyes. "But I'm always either black with despair or white with reminiscence. Never blue."

"Poor girl." Kate said quietly. "Her powers are exactly like Noelle's, but so uncontrolled or so sensitive that they've driven her insane." then she left.

Abel came a few minutes later. "Sorry I'm late. So..." his eyes drifted to the girl.

"She hasn't answered any questions, even her name." Wordsworth said.

Abel sighed and adjusted his glasses. "Go. I'll try my luck with her."

The girl stared at Abel. "You're broken, so I'm gonna call you Shell Man." she sing-songed.

Wordsworth sighed. "Everything she's said has been like that. Good luck, Abel. You'll need it." he left, and Abel sat in his vacated seat.

"My name is Father Abel, and I would like to help you. However, you need to tell me your name, at the very least, before I can do anything."

**AN: Well, there's chapter 1. Review please, and 2 should be up soon. Ja ne!**


	2. Nora and Hans

**Lament of the Lambs**

**Lady Moon-Chan**

**AN: Thanks to all who reviewed! I was careful about my grammatical errors this time, so that shouldn't be a problem, hopefully.**

** Disclaimer: It should really be obvious that all I own here are Nora and her brother. (leaves)  
**

**Chapter 2: Nora and Hans**

The girl stared long and hard at Abel. Then she stood and curtsied in the slow, mechanical way Abel had come to associate with Tres when he didn't have a mission. "I am Nora. Nora Lector." she said in a strangely musical voice.

Abel started, thinking that maybe the girl had a split personality. "Why did you answer when I asked, but not the Professor?"

The girl smiled secretly. "Because he didn't like me. And he didn't care all that much. He just wanted to get his job done, and I don't think he'd have taken me very seriously. But you're different, Shell Man. We're the same, you and I. We've both been broken in the past. The only difference is, I tried to put the pieces together. You just hid yours deep in your shell where no one else could see them. But I can." she moved forward, laying her hand over his heart.

Abel suddenly saw, in his minds eye, a tall boy, with the same hair and eyes as Nora, dressed all in black. He looked angry, and flames suddenly sprang up around him, a wall of flames keeping everything else outside. He looked down at Nora, and she looked back up at him, her blank eyes not betraying whether or not she had received a similar surprise vision.

"That's my brother." she said softly, and at first he had no idea what she was talking about and was about to say so, when she spoke again. "The boy you saw in the fire. That's my brother. He's a witch too, and that's his power."

"To set fires?" Abel asked.

"Yes. With eye contact." Nora said. "All he has to do is look at something and will it to burn, and it burns."

"I see. Were you looking for him when you were found?" asked Abel.

"Yes. He needs to be found. He's very angry, and he'll hurt lots of people if he's not stopped."

"What's his name, and where did you see him last?"

"He's Hans. Hans Lector. I saw him last in the marketplace in Rome. He said he was going to burn the world, so that it would be reborn from the ashes. And he said that he was going to start with the Vatican. That's why I came here to look for him."

"He said that he was going to burn the world and let it be reborn from the ashes?" Abel nearly jumped out of his chair in shock. That phrase was eerily similar to the mantra of the Rozenkreuz Orden...

"To quote him exactly, it was 'we, the flames, shall renew the world.' But he said it in Latin." Nora said.

"He said that...?" Abel forced back his shock. "Did he ever mention anyone else who supported him and shared his goal?"

Nora nodded. "He had lots of friends he was always bringing over. A pair of brothers named Isaak and Dean Butler, a very nice blonde man who was always giving me things, and many others."

Abel started. Isaak Butler was Isaak Ferdinande von Kampfer's alias, and Dean Butler was the alias Dietrich von Loehngrin used when posing as Isaak's brother. And the seemingly benevolent blonde man could only be...

"Cain?" queeried Nora.

"Beg pardon?" Abel asked, shocked that she had seemingly caught onto his thoughts.

"I saw it when I showed you the vision of my brother. A younger, angrier you, a younger version of the blonde man, a little girl with black hair, and a tall, beautiful red-haired woman. They were your family. But the blonde man killed the beautiful woman, and now he's leading a group of people who want the same thing as my brother." she stated, tilting her head. "Is all of that right?"

"That's exactly right. But how did you know his name? The way you described him, I thought he'd never introduced himself to you."

"Not by the name Cain. He told me to call him Adam." Nora shrugged. "But the man I saw looked exactly like him, and the name 'Cain' immediately came to my mind when I saw him through your eyes."

"I see." Abel said.

The interview was interrupted by the head of the Inquisition, Brother Petro, entering. "Father Abel Nightroad, you are hereby relieved of your duties concerning the witch by order of His Eminence the Cardinal, in-"

He was cut off by a shriek from Nora. "Murderer! Knight of torture and destruction! Follower of someone more cruel and bloodthirsty than any vampire!" she was backing away rapidly, her eyes shining and wild, looking altogether like a cornered animal. Her skin had gone chalk white, bringing the two pale moles beneath her left eye into prominence.

Abel stood, concerned at the change that had come over the girl. He walked toward her, his hands held outward in a placating gesture. "Nora, please. Just calm down."

She paid Abel no mind, continuing to stare at Petro in fear. "Someday, you will get your just desserts!" she turned and buried her face in Abel's chest. "Please, Shell Man, please don't let him take me away, please, I'm not the real threat..."

"I won't let him take you away." Abel promised.

"You don't have a choice in the matter." Petro sneered. "The order comes from a Cardinal."

"And so does this one: Leave. My brother and I will discuss who retains custody of the girl after Father Nightroad has finished his interrogation." Cardinal Caterina Sforza looked over at Abel, the barest hint of a smile on her lips. "Am I correct in thinking that you weren't finished when Petro came by?"

"Yes, Your Eminence. We were still in the middle of talking." Abel gestured to Nora, who had unattached herself from him when the Cardinal spoke.

Nora studied Caterina intensely before murmuring, "Justice seeker." and beginning to hum along to music only she could here.

"I imagine it was a highly fruitful interrogation." Petro sneered, his voice thick with sarcasm.

"More fruitful than you think." Abel said evenly, his eyes cold. He pushed his glasses up so that the glare of the lights hid his eyes from view.

"Angrier and angrier...just like you used to be...the way she made you promise not to be..." Nora sang under her breath. She was looking at Abel and she suddenly giggled. "Shell Man is bright red with anger, very very mad."

**AN: Well, there's chapter two. Hope it satisfied you.**


	3. Nora's Escape

**Lament of the Lamb**

**Lady Moon-Chan**

**AN: Sorry for the long pause between updates, folks. I've been busy with school, and also my clingy/possessive mother who insists I spend every bit of time I have with her. **

**Chapter 3: Nora Escapes**

After Petro left, Caterina turned to Nora. "How did you know that?"

Nora stared at her for a long, tense moment, before deciding it was okay to make a little sense around the female Cardinal. "I traded with Shell Man." she said simply.

Abel stepped in. "She was...describing her brother to me, and-"

Caterina cut him off. "Abel. Don't lie."

Abel sighed, looking over at Nora, who nodded. He looked at Caterina again. "She gave me a vision of her brother somehow, and I suppose she must have seen Cain in the process. And _her_, as well."

"I see." Caterina said softly, approaching Nora, who immediately sat straighter and became more attentive.

"I see..." Nora echoed in airy tones. "So Shell Man saved you from being broken."

Caterina involuntarily stepped back, blinking. "What?"

"They were coming for you, to break you, but Shell Man stopped them. The vampires, I mean." Nora began to play with her long red hair.

"How did you know that?" the Cardinal asked in amazement.

Nora merely began to hum. "Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure." she sing-songed, seeming to have decided that she'd given Her Eminence enough information.

"I think that's about as lucid as she'll get while you're still in the room, Your Eminence. Perhaps if you left for a bit...?"

Caterina nodded, leaving Abel and Nora alone once again.

Nora stared after her, then said somewhat sadly, "I think I scared her. I doubt she'll believe me now."

* * *

A few hours later, Nora sat in a cell with a stern, silver-haired woman guarding her, and that oaf who had initially tried to separate herself and Shell Man attempting to get her to talk.

"Answer me, damnit!" he cried, and the young witch snapped out of her thoughts just in time to see The Screamer pointed at her face. She sighed lightly. "Why?" she murmured softly, so that Petro had to lean close to hear.

"What did you say?"

"Why do you kill?" she observed his confused- and a bit less ugly than he'd seemed from afar- face only momentarily before bringing two fingers to her forehead and sending him sprawling on his back.

The woman- Paula, that had been the name in the oaf's mind connected with this woman, the only thought she'd had time to glimpse since it was near the top- entered brandishing a pair of blades, having seen her commander fall.

She charged at Nora, obviously intending to kill. Paula was fast, but Nora was smaller, lighter, and thus faster, though only by a bit. She barely managed to dodge the swing of the blade, but she did and ran out into the hall, running for the balcony she could see at the end of the hall. She flung the doors open, looked down.

Gardens. Big enough to hide in and wait for Shell Man. Nora didn't even hesitate. She ran onto the balcony, climbed up on the railing, and jumped off. She curled into a ball to absorb the shock of the landing, and one she was on the ground, she ran off into the maze of hedges she'd seen from the balcony. A little alcove could be seen growing from the hedges, and Nora ducked into it, curling up on herself into a little ball. "Get here soon, Shell Man..." she murmured.

She heard a rustling near the alcove and tensed, but the person entering was barely older than her, with short light brown hair and blue eyes.

"Who...are you?" the question left their lips at the same time.

**AN: Well, there's that. Let's see how Nora takes to the Pope next chapter, shall we? coughreviewcough**

**Ja!!!**


	4. Brother Dearest

Lament of the Lamb

Lady Moon-Chan

**AN: Here's chapter four, just as a little make up for not updating in so long. And probably not getting to again for a while. Enjoy.**

**Chapter 4: Brother Dearest**

"You first." Nora said, uncurling slightly from her ball.

"M-my name is Alessandro..." the boy seemed nervous. He reminded her of Hans, back when he was still so innocent, before he'd wanted to destroy the world for not accepting him.

Nora's eyes softened. "Don't be nervous. I won't hurt you..." she placed her hand on his forehead, under his bangs, seeing a tall, formidable man, the blonde woman from earlier, and the boy himself between them, nervous, afraid almost, of his two forceful siblings. There was a feeling of immense pressure, and nervousness, insecurity, fear of making the wrong decision.

"Poor boy..." the witch murmured, lowering her hand, "To be put under such immense pressure, and then to be pressured by each sibling in turn into caving to their will."

"How...how did you..." His eyes were wide with fear, and he began to back away, but Nora grabbed his hand.

"Please don't be afraid. This is just the way I am."

Alessandro paused, looking down at her from his vantage point of standing up. "Who are you?" his voice was still soft, but a little less timid now.

Nora grinned. "Nora." there was a brief silence, then Nora said. "You know, when you get angry at him for trying to pass genocide off as the will of God, it's okay to show it."

"W-what?" the boy looked shocked.

"The tall man who shouts a lot. It's okay to be mad at him for doing and ordering such bad things." Nora 'clarified'.

Alessandro tilted his head to the side. "How did you know that?"

"I looked." she placed her hand to his forehead and closed her eyes. "You've been given a heavy burden you don't even want at such a young age, pushed into it by siblings who can't do it themselves even though they want to." she removed her hand and tilted her head to one side quizzically. "Doesn't that ever make you feel used?"

Before Alessandro could answer, there came a crackling sound, and the hedge near their heads burst into flame.

Nora stood. "Brother..." she ran out of the maze, and saw her brother's silhouette on the nearby wall that separated the gardens and the Vatican from the rest of Rome. "Brother!"

His head turned toward her. "Nora." A fire sprang up immediately to her left, and she dodged to the right to avoid getting burned.

Hans jumped down from the wall, rushing toward Nora with a sword drawn. She threw up her arms in the only defense she had, lacking a weapon of her own, mentally preparing herself for the the blow or blows.

They never came. She looked up again to see Abel in front of her in Krusnik mode, his hair defying gravity, blocking Hans' attacks with his blood scythe.

"Shell Man..." Nora murmured.

Hans was looking at Abel in amazement. "So the rumors were true. Mein Herr Contra Mundi's brother..."

Gunshots rang out, bullets rushing towards Hans, only to be caught and destroyed by a wall of flame, while another wall forced Abel to back away or risk burning.

Nora grabbed a sword from a conveniently placed suit of ceremonial armor and met Hans' next lunge, parrying his thrust with a little effort.

The siblings continued to charge at each other, with Hans sending up a ring of fire to keep anyone else from interfering with the fight.

Finally, Nora knocked Hans' sword out of his hands and discarded her own, starting toward her brother.

Hans glared up sharply, causing flames to spring up right in the place she'd been about to step. Then he stopped the fire behind him, running up to the wall and climbing over it, disappearing into the night.

"Hans! Hans! Come back! Please!" Nora fell to her knees, tears streaming from her eyes, the borrowed blade dropping from her hand to the ground. "Brother..." she whimpered. Her eyes did not leave the place where he'd jumped over the wall.

Sister Esther moved forward to lay a hand on Nora's shoulder, but the girl shook her head, falling forward so that she rested her weight on her elbows and knees, beginning to shake. She cried. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Come back, Brother!"

Nora curled into a ball, letting out a veritable howl of despair when only the wind answered her.

**AN: Review please. Flames will be given to Radu for obvious reasons.  
**


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